Process of filling tires.



E ouvgn. PROCESS OF FILLING TIRES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-I0. I912 if? W Elmer alive? E. OLIVER.

PROCESS OF FILLING TIRES. APPLICATION man SEPT. 10. i912.

Witnesses i MM mart n srarns Pram orrron ELMEB OLIVER, OF DAYTONA, FLORIDA.

PROCESS OF FILLING- TIRES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentied NOV. 30,1915.

Application filed September 10, 1912. Serial No. 719,542.

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, ELMER OLIVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Daytona, in the county of Volusia and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Filling Tires, of which the following is a specification. 1

This invention relates to a process of filling resilient tires with a hard or solid and more or less resilient substances.

One object of the invention is to provide a process whereby a filler may be provided which will adhere firmly to the inner wall of the tire, which will stand all heat conditions to which the tire is subjected, and which will pressure and heat it may be rendered plastic and'forced into the tire. To this end, the

not melt, harden or soften to an objectionable degree, crumble or otherwise deteriorate with age or lose'its elasticity.

A further object of the invention is to provide a process whereby a normally solid filler possessing the defined characteristics may be forced into .any ordinary'type of tire on any ordinary form of rim, thus obviating the necessity of injecting the filler in a liquid state and using solvents, gases or other agents liable to cause injury to the tire, or of requiring tires of special type or construction. A still further object of the invention is to provide a process which may becarried out by the use of simple 'instrumentalities, and by which single or double tube tires may be easily and expeditiously filled, and a strong, durable, puncture-proof and highly resilient tire produced.

In carrying my invention into practice I provide a filler which is normally solid and resilient and capable of resisting heat be: yond any temperature to which the tire is subjected, say up to 180 F., but which is capable of being renderedplastic under a predetermined degree of pressure and frictional heat, so that bythe use of suitable mechanical means for producing mechanical filler is formed of a composition of blown cotton seed oil, corn or other vegetable oil, gilsonite, flowers of sulfur, copper oxid, zinc oxid and whiting. The proportion in which. these ingredients are combined depends'upon the size of the tire and the load weight to be carried thereby, and hence the proportions may be varied, but the following 001111 bination has been found generally satisfacoil, 77 lbs.; gilsonite, 11 lbs; flowers of sulfur, 14;}; lbs; copper oxid, 1% lbs; zinc oxid,

3 lbs; and whiting, 3% lbs. I i

In preparing the composition the gilsonite is placed with the oil in a vessel and the two heated until the gilsonite has melted and by constant stirring has been thoroughly mixed with the oil. Theother ingredients are then successively and gradually added, with constant stirring, until a thorough combination is effected and a smooth mixture is obtained, which is then cooked until of the proper consistency. The'resultant composition when cooled'to atmospheric temperature is solid, will stand a temperature of 180 F. or more without melting, is highly resilient, and will not-crumble, lose its elasticity, or otherwise deterioratefrom age or the constant pres sures to whichit is subjected in use. For the purpose of introducing this com-' position, I force the sameinto the tire un-.

der pressure and suflicient heat to render it plastlc for introduction by sultable mechanical means, such as a filling machine of the type shown inthe accompanying drawings,

1n which: r

Figure 1 is a view illustrating the machine in side elevation and also showing the-arrangement of the machine relative to a tire to be filled. Fig. 2 is a view, partly in vertical section and partly in elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a view takenin the plane indicated by the line 33 of Fig. l and showing the interior of the hopper and the.

her or other suitable resilient material; they said tire having one or more filling tubes 8 that extend through the mm, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

My novel machine is designed to'be connected to the tube 8 and to force the hard filling substances through the said tube and into the tire. Among other elements the machine comprisesan upright 4: fixed on a suitable support 5 and having a socket 6 and a lubricant duct 7 leading thereto. Also fixed on thesupport 5 is a hopper 8 which is preferably, though not necessarily, formed in two sections; the said sections being clamped together, as at 9. The bottom of the hopper describes a part of the circle, Fig. 2, and the hopper is provided at its ends with tubular projectionslO and 11. It will also be noticed here that the upright a has base 1 and that the base 13 of the hopper abuts against said base 12, this with a view of lending increased stability to the hopper and strength to the machine as a whole.

Threaded into the forward tubular projection 11 of the hopper-is a cylindrical and smooth-bored member 1% that is provided at its forward end with a cap 15 having a threaded nipple 16. This nipple serves for the connection of a T-coupling 17 on the depending arm of which is a cock 18. Connected to the opposite end of the coupling 17, with reference to the nipple 16, is the casing 19 of a pressure-gage, and connected, in turn, to the said casing 19 is a cock 19 designed to be connected with the filling tube 3 of the tire.

The pressure gage combines in addition to the casing 19 a piston 20 having a. depending and apertured cut-01f portion 21. The rod 22 of piston 20 extends upward through a frame 23 and is provided at 261- with an abutment between which and the top of the frame 23 a spring 25 is interposed. The said spring serves by exerting downward pressure on the abutment 24C to yieldingly hold the piston 20 and the apertured cut-ofi' 21 against upward movement. hen, however, the pressure in the casing becomes eX- cessive such pressure serves to rcise the piston 20 and the cut-off 21 against the action of the spring 25, whereupon the said cut-off diminishes the size of the passage through the casing 19 and consequently lessens the supply of the hard filling substance to the tire. Attention is also directed here to the fact that when the tire is filled and a certain predetermined pressure is therein contained the cut-ofi 21 will close communication between the tire and the means best shown in Fig. 2 for supplying the filling substances under pressure to the tire. The means referred to comprises a worm screw rotatable about its axis in the hopper bottom and the cylindrical section 14. The said worm screw is carried bya shaft 31 that extends rearward through the tubular projection 10 of the hopper and has a thrust bearing in the socket 6 of the upright l. By reason of this,

" rearward movement of the worm screw incidental to rotation thereof is effectually prevented. It will also be noticed by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 that forward movement of the worm screw '30 during rotation thereof is effectually prevented by one or two jam nuts 32 mounted on the shaft 31 and disposed immediately in rear of the hopper projection 10, and that the said nuts may be used to adjust the worm screw as occasion demands.

The shaft 31 may be rotated by any suitable means to rotate the screw 30. I prefer, however, to effect the rotation of the said shaft through the medium of a sprocket belt (not shown) connecting a suitable source of power and a sprocket gear 33 fixed on the shaft.

In practice, the machine bein connected to the filling tube or tubes 3 of the tire 2, which is mounted upon a wheel rim 1 or a form corresponding to the rim on which it is to be used, the filling substance, broken into lumps about the size of an egg, is-supplied to the hopper 8 and the worm screw set into action, whereby such substance will be forced forward by the worm screw and into the tire. Under the mechanical pressure and friction to which the material is subjected by the action of the screw and contact with the walls of the cylinder sufiicient heat is generated to render the substance plastic, and it is thereby forced .in a plastic condition into the tire which it fills to the desired density. As the filling substance is forced in, the air contained in the tire is forced out through suitable apertures which are closed by the filler when the tire is completely filled; The worm filler as it is introduced permanently adheres to the inner wall of the tire and thus becomes a permanent part of the tire, and after it cools becomes a solid backing which possesses the desirable characteristics hereinbefore mentioned. When the tire is filled to thedesired 'density and pressure, the cut-off 21 of the pressure-gage will isolate the tire from the machine. The raising of the abutment 24 of the pressure-gage will thereupon apprise the operator of the machine that the tire is fully charged, and the tire is then detached from the machine. It will, of course,

be understood that the machine may be heated to supplement the frictional heat for the purpose of increasing the plasticity of the filling substance when required or desired.

It will be observed that by the process described a filling possessing desirable qualities is not only provided but that the use of gases, chemicals and solvents liable to :injure the tire is also avoided, and these and other objections incident to employing a primarily liquid filler obviated.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is The herein described process of filling tires with a normally solid, resilient filling substance capable of being physically subdivided and rendered viscous at low temperature under predetermined mechanical friction and pressure and of thereafter resuming its normalcondition,'whichconsists in reducing said substance into lumps or particles of convenient size, and disintegrating and forcing spirally such particles of such substance vunder heat generating mechanical friction and pressure into the tire, whereby under such mechanical friction and pressure the normally solid, resilient substance is comminuted, rendered viscous, and simultaneously forced in a plastic stream into the tire, continuing such forcing action until the back pressure of the plastic stream reaches a. predetermined degree and thereupon, through the action of such back pressure, causing a cessation in the flow of the stream 10 into the tire whereby the material forced into the tire will resume its normal condition in presence of tWo Witnesses.

ELMER OLIVER.

Witnesses:

E. EDMoNs'roN, Jr., C. C. HINES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D; C.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature 7 

